VR Helmet Debuts at Festival, Gives You Animal Vision

Life in squirrel's-eye view. Literally.

By The Editors

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Bipedality, free will and the ability to write poetry are what make us top dog on Mothership Earth.

We have imagination. A vision for the future.

But with just a three-colorway wavelength (red, blue, green), we were dealt the short straw when it comes to the actual vision spectrum. Most critters can see up to 12 — ultra multi-color vision.

To help us see the world through their eyes, Marshmallow Laser Feast — the company that does stage effects and set design for U2 — recently engineered a virtual reality experience they’ve dubbed In The Eyes of the Animal which hacks the senses by using LiDAR (remote sensing technology), CT Scans and aerial drone footage.

The experience, which was a highlight of last week’s Netherlands digital arts festival Playground, invited users to put on an egg-shaped, moss-covered VR headset to see things in “animal vision” — i.e., a simulation of the patterns and colors that go completely undetected by our eyes, complete with surround sound and atmospheric vibrations.

There’s no word yet on whether MLF will bring the technology across the Atlantic. But rest assured we’ll keep our peepers peeled.